It's been a little less than 50 years since the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show February 9th, 1964 and changed our lives forever. The Beatles started their professional careers with a trip to Hamburg, Germany in August of 1960. I'm going to post to this blog what the Beatles were doing 50 years ago to the day from just before that first tour until the historic Ed Sullivan appearance. "Follow by email" for ongoing updates. (Eternal thanks to Mark Lewisohn.)

Friday, February 3, 2012

Expanding the Scope Cautiously

February 2, 1962

Today provides more evidence that a sea change has taken place in the Beatles fortunes. Brian Epstein gets them a booking into a club in another city, nearby Manchester. The place is called the Oasis Club. Manchester at this time is hosting its own burgeoning beat scene and the Oasis is one of the leading clubs there, situated right in the heart of the city.

The set list (an early one for them, insisted upon by Epstein) is quite interesting:

The Hippy Hippy Shake (via Little Tony)
Sweet Little Sixteen (Chuck Berry)
The Sheik of Araby (Tin Pan Alley song from 1921)
September in the Rain (from a 1937 movie sound track)
Dizzy Miss Lizzy (Larry Williams)
Take Good Care of My Baby (Carole King and Gerry Goffin)
'Til There Was You (from the Broadway musical "The Music Man")
Memphis Tennesee (Chuck Berry)What a Crazy World We're Livin' In (via Joe Brown and the Bruvvers - Love it!)
Like Dreamers Do (Lennon and McCartney)
Money (written by Motown founder Berry Gordy)
Young Blood (Leiber and Stoller of "Hound Dog" fame)
Honeymoon Song (from a movie score)
Hello Little Girl (Lennon and McCartney)
So How Come No One Loves Me (Everly Brothers)
O My Soul (via Little Richard)
To Know Her is to Love Her (Phil Spector - alternate Hully Gully)
Roll Over Beethoven (Chuck Berry)
The Love of the Loved (Lennon and McCartney)
Dance/Twist in the Streets (???)
Dream (Everly Brothers)
Searchin' (Leiber and Stoller)

Only three original songs.

It's their secret - they get material from lots of diverse sources and turn it to the ends of rock and roll!

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About Me

After a 30 year career in IT, I got a retirement offer from Ford Motor Company that was too good to pass up. Since then I've been devoting my time to enjoying life, especially through reading, biking and music. I'm a member, with Alison Donahue, of the Guitar/Cello Duo called "Cello Bella" and the Beatles tribute band, The Buntles. (We don't get smash hits, but we can usually bunt our way on base!)